An Arrow in Flight
by freifraufischer
Summary: Outlaw Queen. Robin and his men must adapt to a new world, a siege from a wicked witch, and a woman who keeps haunting his thoughts. Robin Hood and Regina during 3B.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This story starts roughly 3.14, and is set during the siege of the Wicked Witch in season 3._

* * *

It was colder in this new realm than it was back home, but the game plentiful and the local constabulary happy to leave the merry men living in the woods be. Robin thought he might even get used to it. The princess came out to visit them and see that all was well. He'd never met Snow White, but admired her exploits and she had admired the work of their bowyer and asked about commissioning a new bow for herself for the summer after her baby was born.

Little John's absence was still keenly felt, and each time they heard the shrieks of the flying monkeys he hoped it wasn't his friend.

"The princess has gone back into town I take it?" Robin asked as he sat down on the camp stool next to Friar Tuck.

"Yes, she says that her husband and the Queen don't want her out after dark with the witch about. I wanted to ask about the Queen, but it didn't seem like a welcome conversation."

"Royals are capricious people. I won't say I'm not surprised they've made up, but it's not out of the realm of possibility." Robin shrugged.

"But the Evil Queen?"

"I rather doubt she's all that evil if fences can be mended. Besides, legends become bigger with the telling." He smiled. Tuck and Robin had discussed his own legend more than once. The legend of the Prince of Thieves could run further, fire a half dozen arrows at once, rescue a damsel in distress and take the king's gold all without a care in the world.

Except he had a son, and men to feed, and if it got much colder here he'd have to consider finding shelter for everyone beyond the camp.

"They say she's beautiful." The monk remarked.

"You aren't supposed to care about such things."

"I don't, but I can still appreciate the view. Even if her heart is as cold and as dead as they say."

"Legends become bigger in the telling."

"Aye, that they do."

* * *

They didn't meet at the pot luck. Robin and his men had been invited by Sheriff Swan. How strange it was to be on good terms with the sheriff. How strange it was for the sheriff to look like that, Alan a Dale remarked.

"A new world, we can adapt." Robin had said.

The dark haired beauty had caught his eye before he knew who she was. Not too tall, but wearing a skirt that showed off her curves, a main of dark hair and eyes that looked like they could pick one out of a crowd of thousands.

He didn't need an introduction. He could have guessed who she was based on how people avoided her gaze. Even in the clothes of this new world, and without the trappings of her black knights, she looked like a Queen. The prince and the princess seemed at great pains to include her, but her eyes tracked only one person. A boy of perhaps 13. Robin had heard rumors that the queen was desperate to have children of her own.

The boy was dark haired, and looked a bit like he could be hers. A distant part of his mind wondered what it must be like to be the son of a tyrant. Even a tyrant on the mend, as this one apparently was.

But Friar Tuck was right. She was beautiful.

* * *

"You met the Queen today?"

Tuck asked as he settled onto the stool besides Robin, a flask in his hand. Roland was settled in his bedroll and there were guards posted against the Witch and her minions. The Prince had suggested they move into town, at least until the witch was caught, but he had declined. They needed people to watch the woods or else they might miss whatever the Witch was after.

"I fired a bolt at her head."

The monk raised an eyebrow. "I mistook her for the Witch."

"Well, technically not a mistake. You came away with your life?" He reached out and put a hand over Robin's heart. "It feels like it is still there."

"I wouldn't say she was pleased at the greeting. But great and terrible she may be, evil I doubt."

The other man raised an eyebrow. "You are forgetting the black nights already my friend?"

"All royals are tyrants. But not all tyrants are evil." He shrugged and poked the fire with a stick, turning a log. "Not that she couldn't be. She just seemed... so very sad."

Friar Tuck shook his head. "Well, at least this time it was you with the arrows and not her."

Robin raised an eyebrow.

"The last time you were taken with a woman was when she pointed an arrow at your head."

Marian. Part of him felt suddenly guilty and he looked away.

"She's not like Marian."

"I rather doubt she's like anyone else. Just don't let her get too far into your head Robin."

"The Queen?"

"People don't earn the moniker Evil for no reason."

"I remember her kingdom." Robin responded. Queen Regina's kingdom had been prosperous, but hardly happy. You were unlikely to starve within her borders but there was not much laughter there either. It had a sense of a heavy depressing fog that had settled over the land.

Tuck seemed satisfied. "I'm glad to see you looking at women again Robin."

"It's been a long time," he agreed.

"But this one?"

"She just seemed so sad. There was a smile. Brief. Like light before a fire is snuffed out."

Tuck just shook his head. "I know when to give up. Just be careful my friend."


	2. Chapter 2

The attack on the camp that morning had set everyone on edge. Nothing could make a group of strong fit men more upset than to have their families threatened and have nothing they could do about it. And none but Robin had even known why the Dark One had appeared.

And only half of them understood it even after he had handed over the glowing red heart.

"She left her heart in your care." Friar Tuck asked as he sat down next to an upset robin and handed him a plate of stew. "I don't care if you aren't hungry you are going to eat."

Robin knew better than to argue with the monk and started poking at the potatoes. "She trusted me and I let her down."

"What did she say when she came?" Tuck asked quietly.

"That she'd get it back." Robin ate a bit of meat, "That nothing was worth the loss of a child."

"That doesn't sound very much like an evil queen."

"I don't think she is one anymore." Robin said quietly. "I'm not sure she ever really was. She did evil, but was she evil?"

"Robin..." Tuck said quietly, "She may have changed, but I need you to remember that time we crossed out of Sherwood forest after relieving Nottingham of his silver. That village..."

Robin sighed and nodded. "I remember."

"Bodies hanging from the trees with Snow White wanted posters pinned to their clothes. There must have been a dozen of them. And the people just going about their business because they were too afraid to even take their loved ones down."

"She was evil once." Robin granted. "But she trusted me with her heart. How am I supposed to forget that too?"

"You don't." Tuck smiled at his friend. "You dance with the dragon if that's what you want. Just don't be surprised if you are burned because you've forgotten she's a dragon."

Robin ate his stew and watched Roland playing, the trauma of the morning having quickly passed for him. "I think Marian would like her. She has a son, older than Roland, who she clearly adores. He doesn't remember her because of this curse. I don't know how she's functioning at all like that, but she seems just relieved that he's within eyesight."

"Would you be happy if Roland didn't remember you?"

"I think..." Robin said quietly, "I would be if I thought he'd been lost forever."

"Then I think she sounds like a mother, rather than a monster." The monk admitted.

"I think Marian would have liked her. She would have made it her mission to make her see good in herself."

"She probably would have." Tuck agreed, "But it always was the most dangerous thing Marian did... seeing good in bad people."

Robin chuckled. "I'm not sure it was that dangerous, she handed me my pride quite a few times."

"You do have taste in strong women." Tuck put a hand on his shoulder. "Just... try to keep your feathers from being burned by this one. You have more than yourself to worry about now."

The friar looked over to where Roland was playing and Robin's eyes followed.

"I do."

* * *

Regina thought perhaps she should go back home. She'd been at the camp nearly all night. She and Robin had talked after they disentangled themselves from the kiss. And then they'd kissed after they disentangled themselves from the conversation.

He was sleeping, his head in her lap and she was resisting the urge to stroke his hair. It was a cold night, and she should sleep, but the energy of the day was still coursing through her veins. She could never sleep after using as much magic as she'd needed to use to hold her mother off, and to pull her out of Snow's body. Her mind kept going over the day, but kept coming back to the evening.

_"... I might not have spent so much time trying to kill you."_

A life wasted. A choice she'd made decades ago that she might undo. She couldn't take back all her bad choices but this one...

"Your Majesty?"

She nearly jumped, but managed to stop herself from waking Robin.

"I'm sorry to scare you. I just ... didn't expect to find you here." He was a big man, bald with a salt and pepper beard. "My name is Friar Tuck."

"Regina." She offered what she thought was a friendly smile. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it scared people more than a frown.

"It's good to meet you Regina. Robin's had good things to say about you."

She shook her head, wanting to express doubts of that, but Robin had a good heart. He probably had done that. If he wasn't focusing on how flighty and difficult she'd been

"It's early, or late depending if you've gone to sleep."

"I've had a long day," she admitted, "And an empty house to go back to."

The man nodded. "I was going to make some tea. Would you like some, Your Majesty?"

She was both happy to be recognized and a little uncomfortable at the same time. "Please call me Regina."

"Tea Regina?" He held up the pot.

"Maybe just a cup."

The monk smiled. "I take it you aren't holding a grudge."

"What happened this morning was my fault not his." She looked down at his sleeping form, "I should never have endangered him by asking him to hold my heart."

The merry man tilted his head to the side. "I think Robin would disagree. You were in need and he wanted to help."

"I've no right to put anyone's life in danger to protect my own."

The man of the cloth tilted his head to the side and sat down once the tea was steeping. "That would imply you don't believe your life is worth that of anyone elses."

"You do know who I am."

"I do."

"Then the answer to that should be obvious."

"You have a son, Robin says, what would he say to you being so casual with your own life."

"My son doesn't even know who I am." She said quietly.

"What would he say?" He persisted.

"He wouldn't understand," She answered quietly. "He'd say that I had to stand up to Zelena, to protect everyone else. And then he'd be mad that I allowed myself to be thrown around like a rag doll. Because he doesn't see the connection. To him good always wins."

"If you are fighting the wicked witch, don't you count as good?"

"I'm not sure the cosmic balance works that way." She said quietly.

"Probably not, but it would seem to me that you are the only one who can stand against her. So you just keep getting up. There is something worth admiring in a woman too stubborn to fall when she has ever right."

"I don't need to be patronized, friar."

"Good, because I wasn't."

She looked down at Robin still sleeping in her lap. "I don't know what he sees."

Friar Tuck chuckled. "Perhaps you'll have to ask him when sleeping beauty wakes up."


End file.
